Thanks Crabell, I to have had to resort to using a VPN. I took your suggestion and signed up with StongVPN and love their technical support. My Tivo is now working perfectly and I am able to get to Netflix, Amazon, and all of the other goodies. Great solution for non-USA based people.

Hi symesmd, out of curiosity which Router did you use with the dd-wrt firmware?

Quote:

Originally Posted by symesmd

Thanks Crabell, I to have had to resort to using a VPN. I took your suggestion and signed up with StongVPN and love their technical support. My Tivo is now working perfectly and I am able to get to Netflix, Amazon, and all of the other goodies. Great solution for non-USA based people.

I've been having problems with the broadband features. Restarting with the wifi disconnected and then connecting it sometimes helps, but eventually it fails again. The TiVo support dude said his 2nd tier support dude said I have a "broken" TiVo.

The only reason they say it's "broken", is because they don't know how to fix it! Great developers you have, TiVo!

Hi Crabell,
I followed the vpn settings in the strongvpn website and still im not getting connected. I have a wrt310n with dd-wrt v24 sp1 vpn edition and Ifollowed the instructions to the dot, still no go. I think it's the command for the firewall because when I place it No Internet connection but when I remove it I get an Internet connection but the IP in the strong VPN website is my Puerto Rico IP and not the vpn IP. Can you tell me what settings did you use. Thank you

Hi Crabell,
I followed the vpn settings in the strongvpn website and still im not getting connected. I have a wrt310n with dd-wrt v24 sp1 vpn edition and Ifollowed the instructions to the dot, still no go. I think it's the command for the firewall because when I place it No Internet connection but when I remove it I get an Internet connection but the IP in the strong VPN website is my Puerto Rico IP and not the vpn IP. Can you tell me what settings did you use. Thank you

If you are connected to the internet I think that means that it is working, since an error loging into the vpn server should result in no connection to the internet (at least that's what happened to me). To make sure you are connected through the VPN account I would go to this site to verify my IP address and the server's location.

If you are still shown in Puerto Rico I would verify the firmware you used... I'm using dd-wrt v24-sp1 std (not vpn edition), so that may be part of the problem. Strong VPN customer service worked very well for me when I ran into some problems... give them a try.

Hi Crabell,
I followed the vpn settings in the strongvpn website and still im not getting connected. I have a wrt310n with dd-wrt v24 sp1 vpn edition and Ifollowed the instructions to the dot, still no go. I think it's the command for the firewall because when I place it No Internet connection but when I remove it I get an Internet connection but the IP in the strong VPN website is my Puerto Rico IP and not the vpn IP. Can you tell me what settings did you use. Thank you

I just "downgraded" my Strong VPN Subscription from "Regular" to "Basic" because this option was not available when I signed up. So, now I have the same functionality at a cheaper price ($12/month vs. $15/month).

Because of this I had to totally reconfigure my router settings once again and found this Forum Article to be a MUST. I thought I could skip some steps, but they are ALL important. Once I did this I got my router working again.

It is very important to use the server IP address instead of the DNS name and also to connect WITHOUT the router first in order to determine your IP adress, which will become your Remote Subnet.

I had the StrongVPN solution working but for some reason the broadband features stopped working. I browsed to the StrongVPN Site and it shows the IP of the Utah server. I am just wondering if you are experiencing the same issue. Since the services dissappeared on the 1st day of August, I am wondering if Tivo did anything to detect us.

I had the StrongVPN solution working but for some reason the broadband features stopped working. I browsed to the StrongVPN Site and it shows the IP of the Utah server. I am just wondering if you are experiencing the same issue. Since the services dissappeared on the 1st day of August, I am wondering if Tivo did anything to detect us.

Mario

Mario:

Everything looks ok with my VPN connection and all the TiVo features are working. I'm connecting to the San Francisco Server, but that should not make a difference, unless they were having problems in Utah, but if that were the case they would send an email about it.

Sometimes I have problem with my connection to Onelink so I end up doing a "full restart" by unplugging the router and cable modem, waiting a few minutes, plugging the cable modem until it the lights show "on line" and the plugging my router again. After this I force a connection to TiVo and everything returns to normal, if it doesn't I check if I can browse the internet from my computer to confirm the connection and most of the time is a Onelink problem that goes a way after 30 minutes or so.

I just "downgraded" my Strong VPN Subscription from "Regular" to "Basic" because this option was not available when I signed up. So, now I have the same functionality at a cheaper price ($12/month vs. $15/month).

I just wanted to mention that StrongVPN, the VPN Solution Provider I'm using to enable broadband features, now has a cheaper option called "Lite PPTP" advertised as beign $7/month. However if you sign up for the entire year it comes out to $6.25/month, which is much more affordable.

If you DO sign up, I would appreciate it if you use my name (Carlos Rabell) in the "Referred Name" field... That way I get a discount on my next renewal and it doesn't cost you at all.

By the way, I complained strongly about Puerto Rico being discriminated by the broadband features being disabled. I threatened to cancel the service and they offered to lower the monthly subscription from 12.95 to 9.95 per month.

After a lot of research I managed to find a solution that enables all broadband features in Puerto Rico (and probably outside the US as well).

The bad news is that the price may be too high for some/most people.

Here's how I did it:

1. Subscribed to a Virtual Private Network (VPN) Service provider that gives its users an IP Address in the US, such as strongvpn.com.
2. Purchased a new Router compatible with 3rd party firmware that has PPTP Client functionality, such as dd-wrt.com.
3. Changed the firmware of my new router with 3rd party firmware and configured it with the settings provided by my VPN provider.
4. "Video on Demand" became active on my TiVos!

It sounds quite simple, but it took a lot of work. I had to purchase a new router for $100 because the one I had was not compatible with the 3rd. party firmware. It is important to note that loading a 3rd party firmware on your router voids your warranty and may render it useless if you don't follow all the steps, so tweaking with your current router may leave you in the dark if you don't have a backup router.

My VPN Provider charges $15 / month, which may be too much for the added features, so it would be up to you to determine if its worth it. It is important to note that having a VPN connection has some additional advantages, such as unblocking of addtitional websites and internet services as well as anonymous surfing on your computer. One of the drawbacks is that speed gets somewhat decreased, I'm not sure exactly how much or even if its noticeable, but it may affect how viewo streams into the TiVo, I'm not sure yet, since I just got this working last night.

I'll be evaluating these "new" features during the next 3 months (I pre-purchased 3 months of VPN service) to see if they are worth $15 / month. In my case I have 4 tivo's so we are talking about $3.75 per TiVo per month, which doesn't sound too bad, we'll see.

I hope this helps those of us that have been left out in the dack by TiVo.

If you want your vpn solution to work great use a Linksys WRT320n. Works perfect with almost no drop on internet speed. I was using first a Linksys WRT54gl and my Internet Speed Test was 1.80mb to 2.0mb. My ISP is Onelink 4.0mb. With the Linksys WRT320n my internet test is 3.80mb to 3.95mb.

Possible alternate method for accessing TiVo's online featuresThis is just a straight

This is just a straight re-post from this thread. I haven't confirmed that this is working purely because I have the TiVo tethered to my phone via WiFi (it may be simply a result of having repeated the Guided Setup half a dozen times, thus confusing the TiVo as to it's location), but it sure seems that way. I even have the Netflix folderin my Now Playing List, something I'd never seen before since online access was cut off long before they implemented that.

I wouldn't attempt this if you're an AT&T customer btw, since they have a 2GB data cap per month (unless you were grandfathered in w/the old $30 data plan). I dunno what Claro does, Sprint is fully unlimited and T-Mobile just throttles your speed after 2 or 5GB but it's still usable after being throttled (I think they bump you down to like half a meg, from HSPA+ or w/e you usually enjoy, I've seen speeds of 4Mbps on a non-HSPA+ Nexus S).

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I just wanted to mention one amusing byproduct of this mess, all of a sudden the online features on TivoHD are all available again (haven't been for something like two years).

I'm not quite sure if it's because I re-ran the Guided Setup again and the TiVo service hasn't re-located it geographically by IP address.... OR if it's actually because I've got the TiVo hooked up to the internet thru a tethered connection on my Sprint phone (rooted HTC EVO) rather than my home broadband (DSL, which is currently down, rains damaged a cable in my roof). If it's the latter I suspect it's because the phone's connection is routed differently than cable or DSL and it often appears as a continental US connection to many online services (though not all, Google Voice still doesn't fully work, unfortunately).

Sprint's 3G is kind of pokey at home (Buchanan's hill lowers my signal strength) so the connection isn't the greatest for say... Netflix or Amazon video rentals, but it seems to work okay for YouTube and Pandora on the TiVo. I don't have a real big interest in any of it, maybe Amazon VOD but Redbox is still cheaper and of higher quality (and searching IMDb on my phone is infinitely faster than TiVo's Swivel search), just thought it was kind of amusing.

I'm watching Obama's address from last night (first clip that came up) on YouTube on the TiVo thru the tethered WiFi connection to my EVO's 3G connection... Now try saying that three times fast.

I have the same sort of issues living in the USVI. I've made several posts about using a different VPN service on my blog site with details on how to set it up and also how to configure a Linksys E3000 to work with it directly. I've been using using the VPN solution for a few months and it's worked great.

Unfortunately I can't post links because I'm new but if you google "Blendblog.net" you will hit my site and its right up on the front page!

Umm, did anyone else's broadband features suddenly start working again? (sort of) Disregard my previous post above for a moment, I've had my Tivo hooked up to my DSL connection all week as it's always been... All of a sudden I've got access to all broadband features, out of the blue. Amazon and Netflix still error out with an invalid location message, but the free stuff (Pandora, Youtube, music videos, other web stuff) is all working; kind of how it shouldn've been all along regardless of Amazon & Netflix's situation with PR.

Did Tivo realize they might as well enable all this stuff (along with Swivel Search & Explore) and just let Amazon/Netflix error out? Or is my Tivo just tripping?

P.S. I just downloaded a music video, a tech vlog, and an HD NASA clip... It's just so weird that Tivo would re-enable it all without bothering to filter out the services that aren't allowed and don't work here, that's the entire reason for the original ham fisted approach that disabled it all...

The online services are still not working for me. I've called Tivo on this countless times and already cancelled service in one of my TiVo boxes and replaced it with Apple TV ( I didn't need DVR there ). I have 1 TiVo HD box left which I'm just waiting for it to die and then will replace it with another Apple TV. It's a shame. I was a big fan of TiVo

Hello my Roamio box arrived and can confirm that the online services are working on the new box. these apps are supported by the providers (meaning they will be updated) so that's probably why it works.

@prpilot i noticed there is a lineup change does it normally take long for the new channels to pop up?

my guess is that there was no way to disable services separately before.

My previous post (which I guess you were responding to) was from 2011... I don't remember how long those free services were available for but they all disappeared again eventually, right now my Tivo HD acts pretty much as if it weren't connected to broadband at all and it's been that way for at least two years I think... It can download programming data and Tivo's advertising packets but that's it.

Does Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, Pandora, etc actually work on your Rovio? I'd be interested in upgrading if they did, I thought online stuff was still just disabled across the board for Tivos in Puerto Rico. Heck I even asked a Tivo rep about this when I called on Wednesday to report the lineup change, even asked specifically about newer models and hr told me it wouldn't work on those (though I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't accurate).

As far as the lineup change, it went live a day earlier than it was supposed to (at least in my zip code, near Caparra), when I called the rep said they weren't aware of the change and had no details so I gave him the relevant details and he gave me the normal spiel about the change potentially taking up to a week... I don't know if they just worked really fast with the 3rd party that handles the programming info or if Onelink just took care of it in the official changeover date (5th), but by the 6th (Friday) my Tivo had received fully updated info.

You should still go into the channel list under settings and check you've got all the appropriate channels enabled/disabled tho... Tivo doesn't always get it prefect, for instance mine had downloaded info for the CW (now 96) so it was aware it exists but hadn't enabled it for some reason (so it wouldn't show up in the guide nor would shows on that channel show up in searches), just had to select it as active. Same deal with a couple others, and it didn't disable some of the now unused 800s.

For some reason my Tivo didn't move over any scheduled recordings or Season Passes for ABC and the CW either, I think that's happened before, every other channel's recordings and passes transitioned seamlessly except those two.

The online services are still not working for me. I've called Tivo on this countless times and already cancelled service in one of my TiVo boxes and replaced it with Apple TV ( I didn't need DVR there ). I have 1 TiVo HD box left which I'm just waiting for it to die and then will replace it with another Apple TV. It's a shame. I was a big fan of TiVo

You should have threatened to cancel to get leverage to get the $99 lifetime deal to give it some resale value.

@prpilot i noticed there is a lineup change does it normally take long for the new channels to pop up?

Liberty is changing the lineups and synching Onelink lineup to liberty's. It's pretty weird, my brother has Onelink and the cable in one tivo was showing the Liberty lineup (which he then used my zip code in Caguas) and the Tivo upstairs was still showing the Onelink lineup. How weird is that? Two lineups, same house.

You can always force a lineup "refresh" by doing the guided setup again. You go to the settings, channels, channel lst, press the ENTER key, thumbs down three times, and clear. Keep in mind all recordings will be stopped during the process.

Weird thing, 202 which is Telemundo in High definition shows some french channel guide. I guess is the call sign liberty uses in the cable card.

You can always force a lineup "refresh" by doing the guided setup again. You go to the settings, channels, channel lst, press the ENTER key, thumbs down three times, and clear. Keep in mind all recordings will be stopped during the process.

Yup, same here. New lineup didn't show up automatically. Waited 1 week and got tired of the wrong programs getting recorded so had to re-run guided setup and then everything worked fine. It was weird.